Friday, 19 August 2011

Oh.... the hokey cokey.....

Well, it is now Friday.. on Tuesday I would never have anticipated reaching Friday... but thats how it goes with weeks I suppose, espescially one's that involve B-Arts and the Barefoot Doctors Summer School!
Day Three: Tying together of all our work from Wednesday and performing it live on t'internet... interesting visual effects due to live streaming, adding to the mystique of the performances :-) Each individual giving something different to each piece and each audience member taking something individual with them from it too. Just shows that when you throw a bunch of creative people together that they'll come up with 2+2 = infinity. Even the spaces between the pieces were filled with creativity of some sort.. the dance of moving tables and chairs, the dance of setting up equipment, each intermission choreographed with movement.. would be nice to see a time-lapse of the whole event to watch the rhythms of everyone. Each individual performance piece was outstanding considering the time contraints involved and proved that creative people don't just add creativity they multiply creativity by a million!
A lunch of soup, bread and salad, everyone open and chatting, several conversations about life, the universe and all inbetween. Discovering similarities and differences and finding that each person utterly supportive of each other.
Now to Flashmob hokey cokey!!! I had taken it upon myself to tag "Newcastle Town Centre" in my facebook status update that morning.. just to see if it would have an impact on what we were doing... the message went out: "Flashmob hokey cokey 4pm Newcastle Town Centre" The pixies of mischief were fully in control. The interesting part was trying to look inconspicuous and at the same time hang around ready for the "signal". The new sweet shop seeming to be a favourite haunt of potential hokey-cokey-ers. So carried away was I with the plethora of confectionary, I nearly missed it.. Luckily the Guildhall reminded me, with its chimes! On your marks.. get set... go!!!
It was over far too quickly... the little boy who brought his toys to it, the dog tied to the man's belt (the dog loved it!!!! It would seem that Dog's really "get" what B-Arts is about... such is their sense of humour). Phew!! Its over.. HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time to melt into the background!
"What was that all about?" I was asked, "Is it going out on YouTube?" asked another.. such is the power of social media. It touches all our lives whether we realise it or not.. Social media, blogging, Online home made movies, and all the rest were once the domain of the "geek", the "nerd".. the socially isolated, who used it as a means to communicate with their friends.. Its now been adopted by the whole world... this world has now shrunk.. it is smaller... it is however, still full of possibilities, the infinity of conciousness that can come together for a few days and create together. A group of strangers who have become good friends. Individuals who through social media will continue to create, share projects and go out into the world!!! Thank you Barefoot Doctors Summer School, thank you B-Arts... for inspiring, giving space and time to allow for this to take place. ((((HUGS)))). rofl.

2 comments:

What a wonderful post - it really captures the atmosphere of the last few days. After so much doubt about whether I could hack it, I'm so glad I did the BDSS and met/ worked with so many startlingly good people. xxx

That was a brilliant post Sheena.You summed it up wonderfully. The people we all need to thank are you - the participants - you gave it your all! In front of the video cameras, behind the cameras, behind the laptops and blog posts, out there live in the streets, within the sounds and sharing conversation within the home of B arts.Thank you ALL for making Barefoot Doctors Summer School 2011 the best one yet!We'll try to get more photos up on here in the next day or so. Please share yours with us too.